Pulses of oscillatory convection

Abstract

Oscillatory convection in binary fluid mixtures can take the form of traveling waves, in contrast to the stationary flow patterns observed in pure fluids. Using both mechanical and thermal excitation methods, we have been able to create propagating pulses of oscillatory, traveling-wave convection. We report a study of such pulses and measurement of the phase and group velocity, the real and imaginary parts of the dispersion, and the reflection coefficient of the pulses at lateral walls. The collision of two counterpropagating pulses is also described.